Chapel Hill Poet Laureate Cortland Gilliam invites you to join the second installment of "the poet is a verb" for an evening of words that move, featuring a showcase of Triangle-area poets followed by a community open mic. Gilliam says the gathering "aims to illustrate an understanding of poetry as a community, relational practice that moves/activates us toward our collective humanity." Featured poets include Dasan Ahanu, james, and Jameela F. Dallis, Ph.D.
Light refreshments and hot beverages will be served.
About Cortland Gilliam
Cortland Gilliam (he/him) is a poet, educator, scholar and cultural organizer based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. While he has come to consider many places home growing up in a military family, attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his B.A. in Economics in 2010 and again for his Ph.D. in Education in 2016 has deepened his ties and commitments to the Chapel Hill community, to the home state of the past five generations of his family, and to the U.S. South more broadly.
About Dasan Ahanu
A self-described introvert with a very public profession, Dasan Ahanu (he/him) is a poet, cultural organizer, performing artist, and scholar. He is a Southern writer and performing artist who uses storytelling to deepen our understanding and awareness of what’s happening around us. He has published extensively, performed nationwide, and is the author of six poetry collections.
About james
james (he/him) is a Black southern poet, peacebuilder, educator, and music artist who creates artistic experiences that use authentic expression to imagine a world with a more restorative view of ourselves and the communities of people around us. He is currently a freelance hip-hop and poetry educator, a college lecturer, an Editorial Assistant for the Greensboro Review, and an advocate for schools and students. When he's not teaching, writing, or creating music, he's hopping in hip-hop cyphers, losing fighting game tournaments, and reading bits of his ever-growing library of books.
About Jameela F. Dallis
Jameela F. Dallis is a multidisciplinary writer, curator, and scholar living in Durham, NC. Her publications include poems, interviews, arts journalism, and literary scholarship in Honey Literary, Thoughts on the Power of Goodness, Our State, Indy Week, The Fight and the Fiddle, and elsewhere. Jameela holds a Ph.D. in English from UNC-Chapel Hill.
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We cannot guarantee that food served at this program has not come into contact with tree nuts, soy, or other allergens.